


let it burn

by ForeignLander



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 2x13, F/F, Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9852560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeignLander/pseuds/ForeignLander
Summary: A different take on the Maggie/Alex dynamic in 2x13 in which they both get to say what actually needs to be said.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The last Maggie/Alex scene in tonight's episode was complete horseshit so I'm fixing it...or trying to..I don't know I'm still seething so here have this fic..
> 
> This will be in two parts because much like Maggie, I'll deal with (read: post) the rest tomorrow.

It's nearing midnight when her phone chimes.

She's finally comfortable enough that she thinks she might be able to fall asleep if she closes her eyes and just ignores the damn thing, but her brain is going a mile a minute and the shots of scotch she took aren't helping matters and Maggie groans in defeat as she rolls over to retrieve the glowing device.

She knew the message would be from Alex before she even saw her name.

_I know you need space, but when you feel up to it can we talk?_

Another bubble pops up as her thumbs hover immobile over the screen, contemplating how to respond. Deciding if she should.

_Please?_

She's not in the right headspace to deal with this anymore tonight - she can't even deal with _herself_ anymore tonight - but she also knows she won't sleep if she leaves this undone.

 _Tomorrow_.

She presses send and clicks off the ringer before dropping the phone back onto the nightstand. Her eyes sting behind her eyelids when she presses the heels of her hands against them. The thing is, she knows she overreacted, but she doesn't regret anything she said. Maybe the way she said it, and the way she left after could've been better, but alongside the flames of anger and sadness licking through her abdomen, there are also flickers of regret and righteousness.

Saying what she needs to say, being heard, is something she's spent a long time fighting for. She refuses to let other people trample her to get what they need. That was her childhood, hell, that was her whole _life_ until she demanded differently. So, no. She won't apologize for that.

But she's also never had someone like Alex.

And Alex is wonderful. Alex never pushes. Alex never tramples.

Maggie knows deep down that Alex didn't mean for tonight to hurt.

But it did.

So she'll take tonight to feel hurt, and she'll talk to Alex tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's probably not a surprise after my rage-post last night, but I was so unhappy with the last scene. Not just the duration of it, but the scene itself. It felt very OOC, in my opinion, and I don't think Maggie got the resolution she deserved. I know everyone's perfect version is different, and I don't know if this is my perfect version, but I hope it's at least satisfactory.

Morning comes and with it, as it so often does, comes a renewed sense of stasis that the night before had lacked.

She is not 14. She is not at the mercy of her family. Her world is not crumbling around her.

She repeats this mantra over and over as she gets ready, not stopping until she believes it and feels the relief trickle out to infuse every last cell of her body.

As much as she would like to resolve things with Alex right now, she has to work, and she knows her girlfriend does too, so she goes about her morning and plans to find Alex at the DEO when she breaks for lunch.

Lunch turns into an attempt at afternoon coffee thanks to a lead that couldn't wait and it's almost three o'clock when she bumps into the wrong Danvers sister as she's walking through the lab around the corner from Alex's office.

Talking to Kara sort of solidifies what Maggie already knew. Alex was trying to do something nice for her and her baggage got in the way.

Again.

That's par for the course with her past relationships and Maggie is _tired_ of it. Because Alex deserves more from her and she's staring to believe she deserves more, too. It's also apparent to her now that Alex had no way to know that her hatred of the holiday was anything more than simple cynical dislike. (She thinks she knew that in the moment as well, but she was too out of control to piece it together.)

As much as Maggie needs for her feelings to be respected, she could tell - even without Kara's intel - that Alex had been excited about celebrating Valentine's Day. And if Maggie is going to demand to be heard, she's sure as hell going to hold herself to the same standard.

Which is why, on her way home from work, she stops for a bouquet of roses.

* * *

 She's slipping on her shoes, heels this time, when there's a knock at her door.

The ankle strap is caught on her heel and she yanks until it finally gives and rushes to the door.

She already knows who it is.

When Maggie opens he door, it's like she comes full circle and everything locks into place.

Alex is there in front of her for the first time in almost 24 hours, a little disheveled and looking more anxious than Maggie can recall seeing her in the last few weeks. Her hands are twisting and her hair is a little fluffy, like she's been running her fingers through it and Maggie spends so much time cataloging every little thing amiss that she doesn't even realize she's just standing there staring until Alex breaks the silence.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course. Sorry."

Maggie steps aside to let Alex pass and when she turns around, everything she wants to tell Alex gets stuck behind her larynx. But it's just as well because as she closes the door at her back, Alex beats her to the punch.

"No, Maggie. _I'm_ sorry. I had no idea _that's_ why you didn't like Valentine's Day. I thought it was just...I didn't-"

Alex trails off and huff of frustration perfectly describes how Maggie herself feels because this is _hard_. They're both wrong and they're both right and they're both sorry.

"Alex, you don't-"

"No," Alex interrupts, and the fire behind her eyes catches Maggie by surprise for a moment. "I do. I..."

Alex leaves thoughts dangling a lot. It's something Maggie's gotten used to over the course of their relationship because she knows it's not because Alex doesn't want to share, it's because her brain works too fast for her voice to keep up. When Alex does continue, it's not what Maggie expects.

"Come sit with me? Please?"

The request is so soft and Alex looks like she thinks Maggie is gong to deny her and that's so far from the truth, so not what Maggie wants at all. She steps forward to take Alex's hand and the heels of her shoes click loudly in the heavy silence of the apartment as she leads them to the couch.

Maggie settles in the middle, one leg tucked underneath the other and guides Alex down next to her. She turns towards Alex, orients her body so she's facing her head on, and drapes her arm along the back of the couch, her right hand still clinging tightly to Alex's left where they rest between their bodies.

"You know," Maggie says, stroking her thumb across Alex's knuckles, "I read somewhere once that it's easier to talk when you're doing something with your hands."

Alex's eyebrows pull together slightly, and her lips are smiling but her eyes are sad or worried or something Maggie can't name.

"Ok," she says, taking Maggie's hand in both of hers and Maggie's heart flips when Alex untangles their fingers only to turn to Maggie's palm and stroke along the intersecting lines she finds there.

"I know that you didn't mean to hurt me with what you did yesterday," Maggie whispers. The moment feels almost too precious to ruin with words, but that's why they're here.

"I never mean to hurt you, ever, but I seem to keep doing it."

Alex's eyes are steady on hers and Maggie feels a surge of confidence in her that she's not backing down or shying away from this. It makes Maggie want to talk, to share parts of herself she doesn't usually share with a partner. But she should know better by now; Alex is more than just a partner, romantic or otherwise.

"Sometimes I say things, and I don't realize that you're hearing something different than what I think I'm saying," Maggie continues. "You had no reason to assume my dislike for Valentine's Day was anything more than a cynical, love-is-stupid sort of grudge."

Alex smiles and half-laughs at that and it pushes Maggie to continue.

"None of that is stupid with you, though, Alex. You deserve all of the romance and hype that comes along with the holiday."

Maggie pauses and shies away from Alex's gaze for the first time since their conversation started.

"It's just...every February when all the stores put out their candy and boxes of Valentine's cards for school, it's like I experience all of that all over again."

She knows she doesn't have to clarify what she means, and Alex squeezes her hand in recognition, in encouragement.

"I'm not used to feeling that way anymore," she says, a bit louder now, because it still frustrates her that after all this time those people can get to her like this. "I'm a fucking detective and I'm a thousand miles and 14 years away from all of those people and that place and it _still_ gets me."

She's on the verge of frustrated tears again and she takes a moment, a deep breath and a roll of her shoulders, and she meets Alex's gaze once more.

"But you're here, and you're amazing, and you're right now and _that's_ what I want. And I'm sorry I didn't give it to you."

The eyes looking back at her are shining and open and Maggie drops her arm from the back of the couch to take both of Alex's in her own.

"I never want anything I do, consciously or otherwise, to hurt you. Ever," Alex says emphatically, imploring Maggie to understand and she _does_.

"I'm not he most open person, but I want to be. With you."

Maggie's heart soars at that because she's not the most open person either, but Alex brings it out of her. She wants to share things with Alex that she never has with anyone else. It scares the hell out of her, but she knows it could be good. It could be _so_ _good_ if they let it.

"And I hope," Alex whispers, "that you feel like you can do that with me too."

Nothing - no words, no music, no work of art - can capture the feeling that Alex evokes from within Maggie's chest. So she uses their joined hands to tug Alex towards her until their lips meet in the middle.

"I do," Maggie murmurs between kisses, and she can feel when Alex's lips curve into a smile against her own.

When she needs to breathe, she breaks away and allows her forehead to find its resting place at Alex's jaw. Lithe fingers untangle from her grasp and then Alex's hand is curling at her neck, slipping up to tangle in her hair. The soft pads of Alex's fingers stroke along her scalp and Maggie melts into the touch.

"You know," Maggie starts, pulling back, not wanting to break the silence or the contact between their bodies, but wanting to see Alex. "I was getting ready to come see you when you showed up here."

"I was wondering who you were all dressed up for, Sawyer."

Alex is smiling and Alex is joking with her and Alex is almost laughing and Alex is holding her hand and it's too soon and too much for tonight but Maggie thinks she might be a little bit in love with Alex Danvers.

"I even got forgive-me flowers," she says, nodding toward the counter where the overstuffed bouquet sits in the only vase that Maggie owns. "I was gonna romance your pants off."

Alex _does_ laugh at that and the twinkle in her eye makes Maggie's own lips curl.

"Who knows." Alex's voice is as close to a purr as Maggie's ever heard. The couch cushions are soft at her back when Alex guides her down and crawls over her.

Maggie's hands rise to cup Alex's face, not controlling, just feeling, memorizing this moment and never letting go.

"You might get to romance me right out of my pants after all."

Maggie laughs and the smile she gets in return is so breathtaking she just _has_ to kiss it.

"I knew we were right for each other, Danvers," she breathes.

And then there's no more talking.


End file.
